"Glaciers are literally are rivers of ice," the Australian adventurer said.

"When you sleep on top of them, they creak and groan underneath you like a living, breathing thing. And they're incredibly dangerous by the same token. Some are many hundreds of metres thick, sometimes stretching tens of kilometres wide."

Jarvis is set to launch 25Zero -- where teams will scale peaks overlooking equatorial glaciers to beam them into the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris.

"There are 25 mountains that still have glaciers at zero latitude -- the equator," Jarvis said.

"Within 25 years, there will be zero ice left.

"We'll be beaming images of these glaciers into the conference to hopefully make the effects of climate change tangible."

And what do images explain that words can't?

"Humans are very evidence-based creatures and I don't mean evidence in terms of numbers and carefully argued positions, because then climate change would be an accepted reality.

Tim Jarvis on a previous journey retracing the footsteps of Douglas Mawson.

"What humans need to see is tangible evidence of change. If you walk to work or eat more carefully, you want to see a tangible return on energy of investment and if you're told climate change is melting glaciers at a faster rate, you want to see it.

"It’s what being human is all about."

He's also going to connect the project to everyday people with an app that lets people climb hills and stairs in their own community to count towards virtually scaling actual 25Zero mountains.

Jarvis will personally climb three mountains during the two-week conference, starting with Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia, then Mount Stanley in Uganda and Chimborazo in Ecuador.

Tim Jarvis on a previous journey retracing the footsteps of Douglas Mawson.

He said he was preparing physically, but that was only part of the battle.

"You can use altitude masks that restrict your airflow," Jarvis said.

"The old tech we used to use was a straw in the mouth and a peg on your nose.

"I run, I row, I do some weights, but mainly it’s about thinking through what lies ahead and having a good fix on the mental requirements to get the job done."